In Their Mother's Footsteps by Mary Wood

Author:Mary Wood [Wood, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781509811175
Publisher: Pan Macmillan UK

16

Ania

Krakow, Late February 1940 – The Horrific Reality of German Rule

As offices go, this one in the headquarters of the Gestapo in Krakow was like any other. Ten typists sat in rows, clicking away in a soothing kind of rhythm, but there was nothing soothing about the atmosphere. A tangible fear hung in the air. The typists were Polish girls, forced to work there under the threat of what would befall their families if they refused.

Ania tried to convey this threat to Baruch in her messages to him. She had begged him to make his men, and the Polish people, understand and stop treating these girls as if they were collaborators. She wanted them to stop carrying out reprisals. But the reprisals still went on, Ania realized, as her eyes rested on a girl in the corner. The girl’s hair had been cut very short, but the style didn’t hide the fact that a lot of it was missing. Angry red patches showed where it had been pulled out at the roots. Surely Baruch will listen to me? Is he getting my messages? She didn’t doubt that he received the messages concerning secrets that would help the cause, but she wasn’t so sure if he received her personal messages, and the thought that he might not both worried her and broke her heart.

She sent messages to Baruch through the young man who had taunted her the day she had been recruited. She always thought of it as the day she got the job in Gestapo HQ, rather than letting her mind dwell on the other things that had happened that day.

The young man’s name was Stefan Baranski. He had been instrumental in bringing her to the attention of the Germans, for the sole purpose of helping her get this position. Unable to speak German at the time, he had told the Germans in English – despite having little command of English, either – that she lived as a Jew and yet didn’t wear the Star, didn’t look like a Jew, and that she spoke many languages. This had led them to seek her out.

Stefan had used knowledge of his German descent to further his own position. He had also denounced his Jewish faith and was now given special privileges.

One of the recent documents that had come to her concerned lists of people such as Stefan. They were typing-pool copy documents written in German, which were then sent for approval and finally came to her for translation. These lists were called the Deutsche Volksliste – the German People’s List – and classified willing Polish citizens into four groups:

Group 1 comprised ethnic Germans living in Poland who had taken an active part in the struggle for the Germanization of Poland.

Group 2 included ethnic Germans who hadn’t taken an active part, but had ‘preserved’ their German characteristics.

Group 3 were those individuals of alleged German stock who had become ‘Polonized’, but whom it was believed could be won back to Germany. This group included

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